A plurality of various packet-oriented data transmissions is believed to be understood from the related art. One example of such a data transmission is transmitting data with the aid of an Ethernet connection. The present invention is, however, not limited to an Ethernet communication connection, but also applies analogously for any type of packet-oriented communication connections. The communication modules of a packet-oriented communication connection include transceivers (so-called packet transceivers) for transmitting and receiving data packets. A transmission path includes a device for controlling the access to the transmission medium (so-called media access controller, MAC). The transmission medium may be configured as a cable, for example. It is, however, also conceivable that the transmission medium is also configured as an optical fiber for optically transmitting the data packets or as a wireless transmission medium for transmitting the data packets via a wireless or an optical connection (e.g., an infrared connection). The transmission medium is operated by a device for implementing a bit transmission layer (a so-called physical interface, PHY layer). The PHY has a specified data interface (e.g., a media independent interface, MII; gigabit media independent interface, GMII; etc.) on the MAC side and a corresponding transmission interface on the side toward the transmission medium. On the physical plane of the PHY, an error recognition may also be implemented, among other things, in which a PHY displays to the MAC errors upon reception of data packets. In the case of Ethernet, certain values are specified for the minimum interval between two data packets (the so-called interframe gap).
The MAC processes the packets sequentially in an Ethernet. This results in data packets which are sent by the packet transceiver with high priority not being processed by the MAC until the transmission medium is free in the transmission direction. Subsequently, such a data packet with the desired high priority or desired low transmission latency is referred to as a “fast packet (FP).”
In the case of the packet-oriented communication connections known from the related art, the FP is transmitted immediately in the case of a free transmission medium and accordingly received without great delay by the receiving communication module. If, however, a data packet is presently being sent, the transmission of the FP is delayed until the transmission medium is free again. The duration of this delay is essentially a function of:                the residual size of the just processed (i.e., transmitted) data packet,        the bit transmission rate via the transmission medium, and        the length (the number of data bits) of the FP data packet.        
The residual size of a data packet may correspond to the maximally possible data packet size in extreme cases. The higher this value, the longer the transmission (and thus the reception) of an FP may be delayed. For example, the maximum delay period in an Ethernet (maximum packet length of 1522 bytes) is approximately 124 μs, taking into account the interframe gaps (in the case of a transmission rate of 100 MBit/sec) and 12.4 μs (in the case of 1000 MBit/sec), respectively. Such relatively long latency periods are unacceptable in particular for the transmission of high-priority FPs which is often triggered by an occurring event, since the occurrence of the event should be communicated to the receiving communication module as rapidly as possible.
One alternative method, which is also known from the related art, for transmitting high-priority FPs may include a data packet just sent being aborted prior to its complete transmission and the FP being immediately transmitted. It is believed that this may result, however, in two undesirable effects:                the abortion of the data packet just sent results in erroneous packets in the communication network. The quality of the actual data transmission can thus no longer be unambiguously evaluated, since erroneous packets on the receiver side cannot be ascribed exclusively to communication issues. The cause for the transmission error can thus not be ascertained without additional information.        erroneous data packets must be received by the “packet transceiver” of the receiving communication module and the data packet just sent, the transmission of which was aborted, must be transmitted once again by the transmitting communication module. In this way, the load on the packet transceiver is increased, since it must process more data packets. The repeated transmission of the aborted data packets reduces the usable band width of the communication connection, thus increasing the collision probability. The number of collisions is a function of the frequency of FPs and the frequency of packets having normal priority.        